William Bender and Stephanie Farr

Upper Darby police are asking for your help in locating Kevin Knapp, 38, who they say nearly killed his live-in girlfriend this week after she refused to give him money for beer.

Knapp

"He wants to get money to go out and buy beer and she says no," said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. "Next thing you know, an argument starts and he’s beating the sh-- out of her. He chokes her until she's unconscious, and once she's awake, he takes a pillow and tries to smother her."

Chitwood said the 40-year-old mother of three fought back by kicking him in the groin, but "in a fit of rage, he kicks her in the head and face."

"She couldn't breathe. She thought she was going to die. At one point, he bit her on the nose," he said. "You can’t even recognize her face, that’s how brutally she was beaten."

The woman was treated at Delaware County Memorial Hospital, where she reported deafness in one ear and having trouble swallowing. Chitwood said she may need reconstructive surgery.

“He's a dangerous, dangerous individual," he said of Knapp, who has prior arrests for assault and stalking. "We deal with domestic violence every day, but the beating she took, she was probably as close to death as one could get."

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time a petty argument in Upper Darby has led to domestic violence. In 2009, a man was charged with attacking his fiancee with a kitchen knife then biting her wrist over a meatball sandwich, "for not placing cheese on his hoagie roll correctly," police said.

Anyone with information on Knapp's whereabouts should call Upper Darby police at 610-734-7677.